China's iQIYI hires banks for up to US$300 million second listing in Hong Kong, sources say

Chinese video streaming platform iQIYI has hired Bank of America, CICC and JPMorgan to work on a second listing in Hong Kong, which could raise between US$200 million (HK$1.56 billion) and US$300 million, said two people with knowledge of the matter.

The company plans to file its application in the third quarter, one of the sources said, adding that the listing could happen before the 2026 Lunar New Year in mid-February.

Both sources declined to be named because the information was private.

Nasdaq-listed iQIYI, controlled by Chinese internet giant Baidu (9888), declined to comment.

Spokespeople for Bank of America and JPMorgan declined to comment. Chinese investment bank China International Capital Corp (3908) did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

A growing number of Chinese companies have sought to raise capital via initial public offerings or secondary listings in Hong Kong over the past year. That momentum has lifted Hong Kong above New York in terms of listing volumes this year.

The trend has been driven partly by concern over potential forced delistings of Chinese companies from US exchanges since the trade war between the world's two largest economies started this year.

Two Republican lawmakers have urged the US Securities and Exchange Commission to delist Chinese companies that they say have military links that put US national security at risk, the Financial Times reported in May.

With a market value of about US$2.2 billion, iQIYI is the second-largest player in China's video streaming market behind Tencent Video, owned by Chinese tech group Tencent (0700).

Shares in iQIYI surged more than 20 percent at one point on Monday after China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television said it would implement a series of measures to boost quality content creation.

However, iQIYI's shares remain about 30 percent below the level at which they were trading a year ago, having plunged by nearly 60 percent last year on declining revenue and profit in the face of difficulties in subscriber retention and advertising as well as foreign exchange losses.

Analysts expect the Beijing-based company to report an 11.2 percent decline in revenue to 6.6 billion yuan for the quarter to June 30, LSEG data shows.

Reuters